PUTIN’S PLAN FOR EURASIA
By Richard Weitz (11/16/2011 issue of the CACI Analyst)
In a lengthy newspaper piece published in early October, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin unexpectedly called on the former Soviet republics to join Moscow and create a Eurasian Union. Russia is already consolidating its recently formed Customs Union with Belarus and Kazakhstan. Now the intent seems to be to expand the number of its members as well as to enlarge its functions and powers into something like the European Union.
JIHADISTS IN KAZAKHSTAN AND THE INCREASING INSTABILITY IN CENTRAL ASIA
By Dmitry Shlapentokh (11/16/2011 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Kazakh law enforcement recently claimed to have broken up a “terror group” in a Kazakh town. While jihadist terrorism has been a part of the Central Asian political landscape for a long time, these events deserve special attention. This is not only because several similar events have recently taken place in Kazakhstan, but also due to the country’s special conditions where jihadism has previously been a most marginal occurrence.
EFFORTS TO STIMULATE ECONOMIC ACTIVITY IN THE NORTH CAUCASUS STIR PASSIONS IN THE RUSSIAN HEARTLAND
By Kevin Daniel Leahy (11/16/2011 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Boris Yeltsin, president of Russia from 1991 to 1999, famously urged the various ethno-jurisdictions in the Russian Federation to “take all the sovereignty you can swallow.” At the time, the political leadership in Chechnya took this exhortation literally, an interpretation that contributed to the outbreak of war between the secessionist regime in Grozny and the Russian state in 1994. Since 1999, Vladimir Putin has replaced Yeltsin’s controversial sovereignty mantra with one that might be articulated as follows: “take all the subsidies you can swallow.
TAJIK AUTHORITIES VOW TO FIGHT NEPOTISM
By Alexander Sodiqov (11/16/2011 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The introduction of additional legal restrictions on “family hire” in public service and the recent warnings by senior officials against nepotistic practices in government indicate that the Tajik authorities recognize the political risks stemming from nepotism. This recognition appears to be linked with the political upheavals in Kyrgyzstan and, more recently, the Arab world. However, a genuine anti-nepotism agenda of the Tajik government is unlikely because President Rahmon himself has virtually monopolized political and economic power in the hands of his family.
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Staff Publications
Silk Road Paper S. Frederick Starr, Greater Central Asia as A Component of U.S. Global Strategy, October 2024.
Analysis Laura Linderman, "Rising Stakes in Tbilisi as Elections Approach," Civil Georgia, September 7, 2024.
Analysis Mamuka Tsereteli, "U.S. Black Sea Strategy: The Georgian Connection", CEPA, February 9, 2024.
Silk Road Paper Svante E. Cornell, ed., Türkiye's Return to Central Asia and the Caucasus, July 2024.
Book Svante E. Cornell, ed., "The Changing Geopolitics of Central Asia and the Caucasus" AFPC Press/Armin LEar, 2023.
Silk Road Paper Svante E. Cornell and S. Frederick Starr, Stepping up to the “Agency Challenge”: Central Asian Diplomacy in a Time of Troubles, July 2023.
Silk Road Paper S. Frederick Starr, U.S. Policy in Central Asia through Central Asian Eyes, May 2023.